Huang Wanzhen sighed, pulled out the hair tie, and started combing her hair again. After combing for more than half an hour, Huang Wanzhen felt panicked. "Oh my! Why is it getting worse the more I comb it? It's not that difficult for me to comb my hair myself. Why don't you cut your hair short too, Zhenzhen?"

"Ah, no, no, all the girls in my class wear braids, I want to have braids too."

Just as Huang Wanzhen was having a headache, Zhao Dahua said weakly, "How about I give it a try? I've been combing my sisters' hair since I was a child."

Huang Wanzhen seemed to have found a life-saving straw. She stuffed the comb and hair tie into Zhao Dahua's hand and walked towards the stairs. As she walked, she made excuses, "Well, I have to change my clothes. This dress is not suitable for meeting guests."

Huang Wanzhen deliberately lingered upstairs for a while, and when she thought her hair should be combed, she slowly went downstairs.

"Auntie, it looks good!"

"It looks good, it looks good." Huang Wanzhen's eyes blurred, and Zhenzhen ran over quickly, hugged Huang Wanzhen's thighs, and was about to sit on the ground. Huang Wanzhen quickly reached out and held her up. She took a closer look and saw that Zhenzhen's hair was braided into four pigtails, and two of them were symmetrical and crossed and pinned together with pearl hairpins. It looked really good.

"Let your Aunt Dahua comb your hair tomorrow!" Huang Wanzhen made this decision immediately.

Zhao Dahua laughed, "Okay, I'll change the way Miss Zhenzhen combs her hair tomorrow."

A few people were chatting and laughing when suddenly the doorbell rang.

Huang Wanzhen handed Zhenzhen to Zhao Dahahua and walked out the door.

Chen Hanfeng had already opened the big iron gate, and a black French Renault drove in.

After the car stopped, the back door opened, and first a white-skinned woman in a maid outfit came out. Then she turned around and helped Sidonie, who was wearing a fur coat, out. "Hi! Andy, Happy New Year."

Sidonie spoke in Chinese, and Huang Wanzhen smiled and replied, "Happy New Year! You speak Chinese so well, without an accent at all."

Sidonie smiled and said, "Thanks to grandma, her Chinese is really good."

After saying that, she looked into the house and said, "I'm going to pay New Year's greetings to grandma."

Huang Wanzhen extended her hand and made a gesture of invitation, "Please, but my mother has gone back to her parents' home and is not at home."

Sidonie didn't quite understand this. "Going back to my parents' home?"

Huang Wanzhen led Sidonie into the house while explaining, "This is the home before you got married."

"Oh! I see. A woman should have her own house. My father's friend is going back to France and wants to sell two houses near Joffre Road. I've seen them and they're both nice. I plan to use the money I've saved and ask my father and mother for some money to buy one of them."

Sidonie was neither like her father, a consul with political talent, nor like her mother, a businesswoman with business talent. She was a lovely, delicate and somewhat timid girl.

So, in her family, her father favored his eldest daughter, who was academically strong, calm, and decisive, while her mother favored her youngest son, who was sociable and articulate. Sidonie was caught in the middle. Although she wasn't favored, she didn't care. She asked her parents for what she wanted, and when she got it, she was happy. If she didn't, she would ask them a few more times, and after that, she would let it go.

"The villas near Xiafei Road?" Huang Wanzhen raised her eyebrows with interest. That was the core area of ​​the French Concession. Living there was a symbol of status. The lifestyle there was completely in line with the West and was a benchmark that all Shanghai people aspired to.

Xiafei Road is home to the most fashionable commercial forms in Shanghai and is known as the "Paris of the East". Song Wenyin took Huang Wanzhen there for a stroll. There are high-end merchandise stores imported directly from Europe and the United States, custom-made suit shops, French pastry shops, jewelry stores, fur shops, and so on.

"Yes!" Sidonie walked up the stairs with her skirt lifted.

Huang Wanzhen sighed, "It must be very expensive there, right?"

Sidonie thought for a moment and said, "It's just near Xiafei Road, not on the main road. The location is not particularly good, and it's not very big. It's just two three-story villas close together. If I weren't so poor, I really want to buy both."

Huang Wanzhen smiled and pointed at herself, "Sidoni, do you think I look like your neighbor?"

"Sister Xiaoni!" As the two entered the hall, a little meat bomb ran towards them. Sidonie bent down and squatted to catch Zhenzhen. "Oh! Per, you've gained weight again. It seems you ate less meat during the New Year."

Sidonie put Zhenzhen down and took out a red paper packet from her handbag. "Oh! I know there is a custom of giving red envelopes in China. This is a red envelope from my sister for you."

Zhenzhen accepted it generously and clasped her hands together to wish her a happy new year. "Happy New Year, sister. I wish you a happy new year and all the best."

Sidonie tapped Zhenzhen's nose and said, "I wish Zhenzhen all the best, too."

After everyone sat down, Sidonie asked Huang Wanzhen with a smile, "Is Andy interested in that house?"

"I'd love to," Huang Wanzhen said, smiling as she poured Sidonie a cup of tea. "I just don't know if I can afford it."

"When I was looking for a house before, the salesperson from the foreign company told me that the most valuable houses in the French Concession were on Xiafei Road. There were very few houses for sale there, and even if someone did, it was usually transferred privately, making it difficult for the foreign company to get involved."

Sidonie praised, "Andy has a good eye. My home is right over there. Life is very convenient and we have everything."

"House prices over there are getting higher every year. If you buy now, they will only go up further. It's a sure win."

Huang Wanzhen smiled, "You have quite a good eye for business."

Sidonie said without any modesty, "Actually, among the three of us, I'm the smartest. Look at me, I speak Chinese so well now, while my sister and brother still stumble when they speak Chinese! I just don't want to be around adults and try to please them. That would be very tiring."

Huang Wanzhen understood that Sidonie was not stupid, she was just lazy.

Huang Wanzhen then asked about the price. Sidonie shook her head and replied, "We haven't negotiated it yet. The owner has gone to Hong Kong and it will probably be a while before he returns. We have to give my dad's friends some respect, so I don't think the price will be too high."

Huang Wanzhen said with a smile, "If it works, I have to thank you."

Sidonie also laughed. "I thought of a Chinese saying, 'When you help others, you help yourself.' When the time comes, I'll visit Grandma and Zhenzhen. They'll be much closer."

Huang Wanzhen gave her a thumbs up and said, "Impressive! You even know this ancient saying. You're almost an expert on China."

Sidonie raised her chin proudly.

At noon, Huang Wanzhen invited Sidonie to dinner at her home. Haimi and Zhao Dahahua prepared a table together, which included both Western and Chinese stir-fried dishes. Zhenzhen obviously did not eat with Sidonie.